NGT-Amarnath Row | Guv likely to call emergency meeting of Shrine Board

Resentment among board members, pol parties; ‘Not entire area a silence zone’, clarifies NGT

JAMMU: The controversial order of National Green Tribunal banning chanting Mantras and ringing of bells at holy Amarnath cave shrine continued to draw ire of countrymen, alike, within and out of the state even as the green panel clarified on Thursday that it was only the area in proximity of Maha Shivling and not the entire shrine which it declared a silent zone.

While, the resentment against the ruling continued brewing throughout the state, the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board is gearing up to strongly oppose the decision as the Governor is likely to chair an emergency meeting of the board in this regard.

The NGT’s order of Wednesday was met with sharp reactions from people across the country, the strongest one coming from none other than Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder of The Art of Living, who is also a member of the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board.

Questioning the reasoning behind the decision of the tribunal, the spiritual leader termed the decision as against the Hindu religious practices.

“No Puja commences in temples without ringing the bell and chanting of the mantras,” he tweeted, adding that the issue has concerned a large number of people across the country.

“We have been getting frantic calls from the public regarding NGT order on #Amarnath Yatra,” he tweeted.
While, no official communiqué is this regard was released from the Raj Bhavan, the Governor, N N Vohra being the chairman of the board, Sri Sri asserted that an emergency meeting of shrine board will be convened to discuss the course of action.

“I have spoken to the Chairperson of the Board, Governor Vohra about this. We will be convening an emergency meeting of Sri Amarnath ji Shrine board to discuss the same,” Sri Sri said while stating what was essentially the most obvious.

The NGT’s decision has not pleased other board members as well who have criticized the decision stating it as an attack on the basic laws of nature, being in practice for centuries.

Talking to The News Now, PadamShri Pandit Bhajan Sopori, a world-famous santoor player and member of Amarnath Shrine Board has dismissed the decision uncalled for.

“I am not even sure if Justice Swatanter Kumar (NGT’s chairperson) who ruled it, has visited the shrine or not. Chanting mantras or hymns is associated to every religion- Muslims chant ‘La ilaha illallah Muhammadur Rasulullah (SAW)’ in Madhina, Sikhs sing Gurabani’s shabads in Golden temple. How chanting Bam Bam Bhole would cause avalanches at Amarnath,” he said, speaking to this scribe telephonically, from New Delhi, adding that the NGT needs to review its decision.

Giving his thoughts on the green panel’s order to remove iron grills in front of the ice stalagmite resembling the 'Shiva Linga', Sopori said that would only increase the probability of some devotee damaging the sanctity of the shrine, in ‘flow of emotions.’

“The sight there is one to behold. It is so soothing, yet so much goes inside one, emotionally. I think the bars are not obstructing anyone’s views and thus, there is no need to remove them,” he said.

The anger against the decision came from across the religions also, with former chief minister Omar Abdullah leading the resentment.

“It’s probably just me but I don’t understand how chanting outside the holy cave while on a pilgrimage to Amarnath ji damages the environment,” Abdullah tweeted.

Earlier in the day, the NGT issued a clarification on the Amarnath matter saying the entire shrine is not declared a ‘silence zone’, and that silence restriction will not apply on Aarti and other rituals.

“The only restriction is that the devotee/pilgrim or anybody while standing in front of the Amarnath Ji Maha Shivling – a natural formation in the cave shall maintain silence at that place,” the panel in a fresh order said on Thursday, adding that the restriction is not applicable to other parts of the shrine, including the main stairs leading to the Holy cave.

Attempting to save the face, the panel said that the directions are required to maintain the sanctity and pristine condition of the holy cave on the one hand while on the other to ensure that there are no adverse impacts of noise, heat, vibrations etc. upon the Amarnath Ji Maha Shivling, so that the pilgrims coming in the later part of the limited period available to the pilgrimage are also able to have the Darshan of the Amarnath Ji Maha Shivling.

All of that, however, didn’t do well to calm the rising emotion as observing it as an issue related to large number of pilgrims throughout the country, almost all the mainstream political parties as well as religious organizations reacted strongly against the NGT decision on Thursday.

BJP’s state spokesperson, Prof. Virender Gupta said that the decision of NGT is going to seriously hurt the religious sentiments of the people without any justification of the prohibiting steps suggested, adding decision of prohibiting chanting of mantras, religious ‘kirtan’ and carrying anything from the stairs leading to the holy cave has been taken without making any scientific analysis about the effects of the sound created due to chanting of mantras and religious slogans nearby Shiva cave.

Meanwhile, opposition Congress too reacted and said that it is a wrong decision. Expressing dismay over the NGT order, Ravinder Sharma, Chief Spokesperson, J&K Congress, has said that religious sentiments of pilgrims should be respected at all costs while taking care of the ecological concerns.

Sharma termed the order as quite “harsh” hurting the religious sentiments of pilgrims visiting the shrine and demanded review of the same in order to take care of the religious sentiments and faith of the people.

He said that although the NGT has taken cognizance of the ecology concerns of the area in and around of the Holy Shrine and also pointed out need for proper infrastructural facilities to have clear darshan, it was also required to take care of religious sentiments attached to the chanting of hymns and religious offerings.

Taking the matter seriously, main opposition National Conference, provincial president Devender Singh Rana has decried the NGT directive, describing it infringement of religious rights.

“We respect judicial processes and have regard for NGT but expect as well that there should be no interference in the matters of faith”, Rana said.

Rana while addressing a press conference over the issue said that the sentiments of a section of society have been hurt by this unjust directive which comes weeks after the NGT directive on reducing the number of pilgrims to Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine.

“We fail to reconcile with one after another directive in recent weeks on the two important pilgrimages of Jammu and Kashmir”, he said and made a strong plea to Governor N N Vohra, who is also Chairperson of Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board and Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board to take up the issue with the NGT for corrective measures.

All Parties Migrants Coordination Committee (APMCC) has also taken a serious note of the diktat of NGT order, terming it a Talibani diktat and warning of dire consequences.

In a statement issued here the APMCC leadership warned NGT for interfering into religious affairs of Hindus and rejected out-rightly the order issued by it.

APMCC chairman Vinod Pandit said that it has become a norm in India to poke nose into the religious affairs of Hindus by such institutions and warned that provoking Hindus every now and then would be disastrous for the communal harmony in the country.

He said that institutions like NGT etc should refrain from playing with the sentiments of Hindus and restrict themselves to the job they are assigned.

Similarly, a Chandigarh based Hindu Takht said that they will challenge the order in Supreme Court. Rashtriya Pracharak Shri Hindu Takht, president Viresh Shandilya in his statement termed the NGT order a “Non Sense Order” and said Hindus were not responsible for every ecological problem on earth. “We appeal to the Government of India to stop hurting the religious sentiments all the time for one or the other reason and to get the NGT to withdraw such a Tughlaki farmaan at once and we will challenge the order in the Supreme Court,” Shandilya said.